The Arenzville fire protection district hopes the same voters who approved its formation in 2017 will agree to boost funding Tuesday.

At the time the referendum was passed to create the district, the default assessment rate was 0.125 percent. The board passed a resolution to ask voters to increase the rate to no more than 0.3 percent,” according to board of trustees President Dave Bunfill.

The would mean the fire district would assess up to 0.3 percent equalized assessed value for property within the district. The 0.125 percent rate was bringing in about $35,000 for the fire district.

“Prior to Arenzville forming the district, we were receiving a majority of our revenue by subscriptions, which meant we would send out annual statements to people in our service area for money to subscribe to our services,” Bunfill said.

After the formation, funding was generated though taxes. The rate now in place only generates about half of the revenue as the subscription service, though.

“What this new rate does is get the levy up to an amount that is comparable to what we were doing when we were a subscription [ service],” Bunfill said.

The Arenzville Fire Protection District is volunteer-based, but money is needed to maintain equipment.

“We do have a program in place where we’ve replaced about half of our turnout gear that we wear, but we still half of that to replace as well. There are time limits for useful life,” Bunfill said. “We have to replace them whether they need it or not. We’re hoping that some of these extra revenues will take care of some of that, too.”